1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new color image copying device concerned with an optical means of reading and reproducing color images such as a color copier, and in particular which is able to read and reproduce color images with a single scanning operation without requiring a charge-coupled device imaging sensor or other imaging device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 55-162174, conventional devices for reading and reproducing color images sequentially illuminate the color document original with light having differing red, green, and blue spectral characteristics. This light is reflected from the aforementioned color document, passes a mirror and lens, and is read into a charge-coupled device imaging sensor. The red, blue, and green reflected light is read sequentially, synchronized to the emissions timing of the aforementioned red, blue, and green lights, to obtain the corresponding red, blue, and green imaging information. This red, blue, and green imaging information is color converted to produce yellow, magenta, cyan, and black color imaging information, and a color image is reproduced by transferring yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks to the copy paper by a thermal transfer or other reproduction means.
However, in the previously described color image copying device, an emissions timing control device for red, blue, and green light sources which generate the red, blue, and green exposure light, a charge-coupled device imaging sensor and charge extraction timing control device, a color conversion processor, a thermal transfer recording device, and yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink ribbons are required, necessarily resulting in a complex design, large size, and high cost.